Leather Color

Many have asked about leather color – when new, it is a very light tan color as we do not dye the leather.  If dried without any tanning process, leather is off-white (like drum heads).  The tannins used to cure the leather we use impart a light tan color.  However, natural vegetable-tanned leather will darken over time, accelerated by exposure to sunlight.

This photo shows the leather color when new and after a few months of use.  The Shoulder Bag has been used daily for a few months and in the sun for an hour or so each day.  You can see that it has darkened quite a bit already.  It was treated with Brooks Proofide® before use, but that alone had almost no effect on the color.  I’ll keep using it into Spring and take more photos.

The darker leather and canvas swatch was treated with a home-spun treatment of 2/3 soybean oil and 1/3 turpentine (I found this recipe online for treating canvas and couldn’t pass up such a folkloric treatment).  I did an entire bag with this – canvas and all.  It does improve the water resistance, but at the expense of a slightly oily feel to the fabric that gets better over time.  I will be testing this bag further, but right now don’t recommend it.  The turpentine also gives it a piney smell for a couple months.  Feels very 19^th century – just add muttonchops.

We’ll have more leather and canvas treatment tests shortly.

- Eric